


The Weakness of Hubris

by CookieDoughMe



Category: Haven (TV)
Genre: Audrey Parker (Mentioned) - Freeform, Canon Compliant, Croatoan's POV, Duke Crocker (mentioned), Dwight Hendrickson (mentioned) - Freeform, Gen, I've been poking at this for ages but I think it's finally time to release it into the wild, Mara (mentioned) - Freeform, Nathan Wuornos (mentioned) - Freeform, Post-Finale, reference to major character death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-12
Updated: 2020-09-12
Packaged: 2021-03-06 18:21:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 719
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26423293
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CookieDoughMe/pseuds/CookieDoughMe
Summary: A defeated Croatoan muses on where he went wrong.





	The Weakness of Hubris

I thought I could do anything. I thought the aether could make anything happen and my expert use of it would make me unstoppable. I didn't figure on the people of Haven having a weapon so powerful, one I had forgotten existed and could do nothing to touch. 

Mara would have made the same mistake, I think. In fact, perhaps she actually did. That may have been why I didn't get to see my daughter as I remembered her; fierce and unflinching, committed to the fun and fascination of the power of aether.

The Audrey I met was entirely different. I thought it was because she lacked something: the will to use the power on offer to her, the imagination to see it's potential, the strength to see it through. It was too late when I realised, Audrey wasn't Mara with something notable missing but with something vital added. 

Audrey had a different kind of strength all its own. She got it from this town I guess. This town, this people; this life. Or maybe from the person she was, the other Audrey Parker whose memories the Barn made use of. In any case it was part of her, part of all of them down to the core of who they are, and no Trouble or aether-powered terror could do anything to change that. No comforting illusion either.

I thought I was giving them everything; power, love, family, everything a man could want. I thought in the face of all that they would quickly fold, creatures too insignificant to muster any resistance. But even though I gave them everything they could want and more, they still refused to accept the plans I’d made for them. Their resistance seemed petulant, irrational, pointless - it made no sense. 

Finally I saw there was something crucial I’d forgotten, but it was too late to do anything about it by then.

Perhaps I could have pushed on; destroyed them, destroyed their town, destroyed the planet. But what would that have given me? There’s no fun to the aether without people to manipulate it with, and without Mara (or even Audrey) by my side, any victory would have felt hollow. All I wanted was to set Mara free so we could explore the aether together. When it eventually became painfully clear that Mara was gone and anything I could do would only drive Audrey further from me, there was no option left but to admit defeat. Anything else would only have made my situation worse.

My mistake was pride. Pride, overconfidence, arrogance and ignorance. I can see that now. I thought I was unstoppable and I didn't factor in the power of this town or the people who seemed so inferior I barely stopped to acknowledge their existence. I didn't realise the power of the force binding them together, a solid defence against the allure of the aether. I didn't plan for it because I'd forgotten it existed. 

I’d forgotten what it is, how it works and what it can do, in all it's different forms and variations. The man who values his free will so much he would die to stop himself being used to hurt the people he loves. The man who loves my daughter so much that a perfect copy of her still wasn't good enough. The man who loves his own daughter more than life itself but who, in the end, still loved this town and his friends more. The woman who was my daughter and not my daughter, who loved all of these people and every single other person in Haven more than Mara ever loved me, and more than I could love her. We didn't realise what we were missing. 

I had no way to fight something like that I didn’t understand. Trying would only have made my situation worse and when push comes to shove, I’m not that self destructive. I didn't realise that admitting defeat would lead to an eternity spent in an empty white room with only a grumpy, angry and grieving old man for company. But I’ve inflicted worse fates on better people and it’s too late to complain about it now.

I thought I could do anything. I didn't figure on the power of the one defence Haven had I didn't see coming. Love.


End file.
